The days are long but the years are short? This was not written by someone homeschooling five children. THE DAYS ARE SHORT and so are the weeks – and also the months actually – and suddenly two months have passed since you last wrote a blog with a bread recipe update… and all you have achieved in the ensuing time has been keeping everyone alive/fed/clothed/learning at an appropriate level of challenge and interest. NBD.
The good news is that I’ve brushed up my knowledge on the solar system, basic geology, factorials and Mesopotamia; read Charlotte’s Web aloud for the third time (finally managed to read it without crying, third time’s a charm), and eaten a lot of baked goods.
Talking of baked goods, I highly recommend these healthy ish cookies. We stumbled across pumpkin seed butter lately so I now throw a tablespoon of that in and substitute the banana with applesauce and all five children think this is a massive treat while I am quietly celebrating the iron content.
What else. We had Halloween – you all know I can’t stand Halloween – but this year we decided to skip the door-to-door and instead trade it in for a Spooky Walk for sweets in the garden. Mr tMatM took it pretty pretty seriously with DIY decor: cardboard gravestones, strobing bike lights, a boiler suit stuffed and topped with a paper bag head… complete with spooky music from Spotify.
Two of the children were sobbing about 20seconds after we started the treasure hunt, so I think we can call that a success? We had to switch the music off and cajole everyone back outside. Maybe I preferred the old skool pre-covid Halloweens after all.
A trip to our local museum and a hot chocolate, followed by a bit of float plane watching while Hugo napped.
We also took a trip to China beach: these kind of mid week day trips feel very wholesome and peak homeschool. In a good way.
And then, well, am I going to mention Christmas? Are we all on board with early Christmas prep? I mean I am, personally, all for a November Christmas tree under normal circumstances, so this year I feel particularly vindicated in my approach. Who wouldn’t want an extra week or two of Christmas joy?
I did also have a semi-panicked walk around the Walmart toy section looking at Paw Patrol light up vehicles and hot wheel Monster Trucks, plus I have about 400 items in my amazon/H&M/M&S/John Lewis basket so my prep is basically done, no?
Okay. More soon, if I can. I’m sure homeschooling plus Christmas is going to be super relaxing. xxtMatM
